Ashes Afterglow TC - closing the vault

[tamago]

so far the demo is amazing

two suggestions:
1: Is the lamp only charging while still technical or intentional? This makes it a bit hard to find the exact spot in the light that works.
2: Is it possible to add a item to bring up a rough sketched map of the zones? In the beginning its a bit overwhelming to figure out how the game world is structured just from dialog.

[Vostyok]

so far the demo is amazing

two suggestions:
1: Is the lamp only charging while still technical or intentional? This makes it a bit hard to find the exact spot in the light that works.
2: Is it possible to add a item to bring up a rough sketched map of the zones? In the beginning its a bit overwhelming to figure out how the game world is structured just from dialog.

1. The lamp relies on a minimum light level to charge, but I may increase this in brighter areas, while adding a "trickle" charge which is slower but works in lower light levels.
2. This is a good idea. In fact, I'm in the process of adding a basic "journal" function, which will include a basic hub map. Still working out how I want this to look, but will show some stuff off when I get it nailed down.

[Leglock]

Honestly, unless something terrible happens this year, pretty sure that Treasure Tech will be swiping this year's award. It really is rather beautiful in many ways. I really want to release this year regardless, but I will not hesitate to delay for a short time if there are still elements to this episode that are missing or in need of serious improvement.

Treasure Tech is really awesome, indeed. But Ashes has a lot of stuff going on, Original sprites for player, weapons and enemies. Incredible map design (specially Afterglow), fun and balanced combat, amazing soundtrack, a cool story that hooks and imerse you in it's world.

I alerady mention it for a nomination, If must of the people who post in here feel that way, they can nominate the project aswel. I am sure it will be worth a cacoaward.

[Vostyok]

Hahah. Please don't spam the Cacoward thread, especially since this isn't finished yet!

Lol. I'm sure they know about this already. We did win a runner-up award last time.

Really, I'm more interested in making sure this release is everything the first one should have been. Awards and stuff is secondary to that.

[Korell]

I didn't think that the lamp really lit up the environment very much. Whilst it did make the immediate area around the player brighter, the distance at which things were visible was barely increased. Maybe it is my settings, but I was hoping it would provide more light, especially in the main hub area where there is that section in almost total darkness. I use the Doom lighting mode.

[Jarewill]

And no, as stated in readme, gold key not in demo. It's a teaser for later. The final part for the motorcycle will be found in the full release. Enjoy the ending text.

Arghhhhhh!
I knew I missed something horribly obvious!
By the time I started playing the episode I completely forgot what was in the readme.

[Captain J]

Treasure Tech? Well, sure. But Ashes is, in my arrogant opinion, must be awarded. I can even feel it! It's not super perfect at the moment, granted. But it's impressive to see the same Total Conversion getting a multiple episodes and map packs(including the old demo one). I don't care if Dead Man Walking was just a fan stuff, but i can sense the TC is really growing on us. Although it was mentioned as runner-up, the fact that it still didn't get awarded baffles me. The amount of quality and heart is there, after all.

As a fellow TC creator, who apparently got the Cacoward in 2018, you can do this. No matter how long it'll take, it surely will pay off.

[Dynamo]

Hi! Finally got around to trying out the demo for this, and it's really great as expected. I played on normal difficulty.

here are a few bugs I spotted, not sure if these have been reported before:

https://i.imgur.com/2kTeoiu.png - There is a missing texture here in the hub metro map, the automap should help you pinpoint where this is.

https://i.imgur.com/G2mWr5t.png - Right here, if you jump behind the crate, there is no way back out of there without cheating. I recommend placing a small crate or barrel behind the big crate (or maybe a secret, who knows) there so that it's possible to get out without having to type fly or noclip.

Also, in general, I am pretty pleased with some of the custom AI behaviors I've noticed in the mod, however I think you may want to refine the behavior that causes enemies to run away from you when wounded (at least I think that's what happens) - right now they mostly just wander aimlessly in rooms and it looks pretty cheesy, I think it would work better if they tried to run away but then if they meet a dead end they lay in ambush or something to that effect, maybe even kneel down. There could even be a "surrender" feature similar to what rise of the triad has - with or without the backstabbing if you choose to spare them.

On the whole, an excellent piece of work and I can't wait for the full version! Great job on the new graphics and soundtrack as well.

[Captain J]

That crate softlock has been already mentioned. But i bet there's more softareas to discover, so keep your eyes peeled. Also about the enemies fleeing and then ambush after taking damage is indeed quite annoying to deal with.

Don't know if it was intended, but despite they're heavily injured, scared, trying to run away from a stronger opponent that is Scavver, and plead for their lives even, they still want some piece. It's somewhat reasonable if you think about how random the post-apocalypse gets, but i found it rather confusing. Probably will need dedicated dialogues about them planning the ambush.

[Korell]

Just finished it. It was just that fuse that I had been missing that was preventing me from finishing. I completely missed that ladder when I was in that building.

[Vostyok]

Nice job! Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. I'm gonna be taking in all these fix suggestions and making the experience a little tighter.
Of course, gonna move a few things around here and there. New rooms, new areas, new encounters. Just to keep you guys on your toes.
What? You expected a few spooky things in the subway, right?

Anyway, one final note on the AI. Yes, want to modify it so scared enemies will eventually wander back or sit still when they can't see you. As well as leader-bandits yelling at them to get their shit together and keep fighting.

And yes, to answer your question CapJ. The blue-haired grrrls and the shotgun dudes are the leader-rank vultures. But I'll be adding a couple of special mini-bosses, with their own weapon choices, to their line-up, including someone once thought dead .... spooky.

Still they're only human. So if they annoy you, a pipebomb or a shotgun shell will shut them up pretty quick.

[Leglock]

Nice job! Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. I'm gonna be taking in all these fix suggestions and making the experience a little tighter.
Of course, gonna move a few things around here and there. New rooms, new areas, new encounters. Just to keep you guys on your toes.
What? You expected a few spooky things in the subway, right?

Anyway, one final note on the AI. Yes, want to modify it so scared enemies will eventually wander back or sit still when they can't see you. As well as leader-bandits yelling at them to get their shit together and keep fighting.

And yes, to answer your question CapJ. The blue-haired grrrls and the shotgun dudes are the leader-rank vultures. But I'll be adding a couple of special mini-bosses, with their own weapon choices, to their line-up, including someone once thought dead .... spooky.

Still they're only human. So if they annoy you, a pipebomb or a shotgun shell will shut them up pretty quick.

I was thinking that you might use more radiation, pitfiends projectiles may add some radiation damage on top of the normal damage (maybe 1/3 green bar). I was thinking that will add some difficult and you might purchase "purge".

[Captain J]

Extra hexen-styled poison damage and strife-styled toxic damage would work kinda great. Well, i already know it might make the living even more hellish...

[WiseFree]

Just created an account to say that this mod is great! The amount of detail that was put into this mod is heartwarming, i just cant get enough of it. The only complain i have about is this .

There are certain places in the maps that are too dark to walk into, even though i tried with the lamp ( sometimes the lamp doesn't activate for some reason) it still dark. The fix i used for it was messing with the contrast and brightness, that just ruined my immersion but it momentarily fixed the problem.

Other that its great! I am yet to see glitches or missing textures or stuff like that for now.

[Vostyok]

Just created an account to say that this mod is great! The amount of detail that was put into this mod is heartwarming, i just cant get enough of it. The only complain i have about is this .

There are certain places in the maps that are too dark to walk into, even though i tried with the lamp ( sometimes the lamp doesn't activate for some reason) it still dark. The fix i used for it was messing with the contrast and brightness, that just ruined my immersion but it momentarily fixed the problem.

Other that its great! I am yet to see glitches or missing textures or stuff like that for now.

Thank you for the feedback. I am genuinely overjoyed that people seem to enjoy my little mod.

In regards to brightness issues, this is usually an issue with different monitors/room brightness. The following fix is more effective than messing with gamma:

If you are finding the game a little too dark, try changing Sector Light Mode. It can be found in Display Options > Hardware Renderer. I have mine on Doom or Dark, but you might find standard, vanilla or even Legacy a better mix of shadows and illumination. It tends to raise the general luminescence without washing out the colors, as Gamma does.

I will be adding a new tutorial/prologue to the mod in the full release, which will allow you to test your brightness levels before the game begins. Kinda like a "adjust your brightness until the image on the far wall is barely visible", kinda thing.

Also, the lantern didn't always work? It only works with the revolver, autoloader and crowbar, and requires a charged solar battery to function. If it doesn't work outside of those criteria, is there any particular situation where it doesn't work?